Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Missoula County, MT

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 67.8 Relatively High

120,672
Population
11
Departments
32
Stations
29
Census Tracts

Natural Hazard Loss Profile

Expected annual loss across the 18 natural hazards in FEMA's National Risk Index. Life safety is expressed in fatality-equivalents, combining expected deaths and injuries. Property loss counts building damage only, separate from agriculture.

Natural Hazard Life Safety
3.91
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
4th highest of 56
Life Safety per 100k
3.24
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
29th highest of 56
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$32.2M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
4th highest of 56
Property Loss per Resident
$267
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
50th highest of 56

These figures cover natural hazards only. Structure fire, EMS, and motor vehicle incidents are not included in the National Risk Index and are not counted here, so this is not an all-cause life safety measure. For Missoula County, the largest single contributor is Avalanche, 60% of the life-safety total.

Missoula County carries an expected 4 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $32.2M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 56 Montana counties. Nationally, Missoula County ranks 131st of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 269th for life safety per 100k residents, 558th for property loss, and 2129th for property loss per resident. Computed from census tract data covering every resident, independent of fire department boundaries.

Add fire mortality, cause, and loss

Natural hazard exposure is one half of the picture. The other half is what your departments run on: fire deaths and injuries, cause of ignition, dollar loss per incident. That comes from NERIS incident reporting, and it grows as departments serving Missoula County enroll. Our Regional tier brings it together across your jurisdiction, with participating departments, alongside response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

Talk to us about Missoula County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

38%
62%
Property (buildings): $32.2M (37.5%)
Life safety: $53.6M (62.4%)
Agriculture: $33K (0.0%)

Total expected annual loss: $85,844,255 per year. Life safety is shown here in dollars, at FEMA's $13.7M value of statistical life, so the three shares sum to the total.

Hazards Ranked Two Ways

The hazard that threatens people is often not the hazard that destroys buildings. Both columns cover the same 18 hazards over the same year.

By life-safety loss ($/yr)

Avalanche
$32.1M
Cold Wave
$14.1M
Earthquake
$3.5M
Ice Storm
$979K
Heat Wave
$675K
Lightning
$587K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$18.6M
Earthquake
$6.6M
Wildfire
$6.4M
Ice Storm
$434K
Strong Wind
$122K
Cold Wave
$41K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Missoula County. Gray tracts have no modeled loss or no resident population. Per-resident figures on this map use the National Risk Index 2020 tract population.

Fire Service Profile

9%
18%
73%
Career: 9% (1)
Combination: 18% (2)
Volunteer: 73% (8)
Residents per Station
3,771
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
26.5
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 11 departments registered in NERIS Public for Missoula County, MT. Departments that have not registered are not counted. Station coverage divides census population by registered stations; department service areas overlap, so their populations are not summed.

Department Rankings

Fire and EMS departments serving Missoula County. Click column headers to sort.

NRI Rating is from FEMA's National Risk Index, which measures community risk across 18 natural hazards using expected annual losses, social vulnerability, and community resilience. Life-Safety Loss uses FEMA's Value of Statistical Life ($13.7M per expected fatality) to estimate annual risk to human life.

Department boundaries and station counts are self-reported through NERIS Public and may not reflect current service areas. Population and Life-Safety Loss reflect each department's full jurisdiction. County-level risk metrics are computed from census tract data and are not affected by boundary accuracy. See full methodology.

Showing 11 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Missoula Rural Fire District 45,438 $28.2M Relatively High 5
Missoula FD 70,680 $23.5M Relatively High 6
Frenchtown Rural Fire District 13,124 $11.3M Very High 8
Greenough-Potomac Volunteer Fire Department 9,892 $10.7M Very High 2
East Missoula Volunteer Fire Department 9,163 $7.1M Very High 3
Seeley Lake Rural Fire District 6,145 $7.1M Very High 2
Arlee Fire Department 6,283 $5.6M Very High 1
Clinton Rural Fire Department 5,616 $5.0M Very High 1
Swan Valley Emergency Services 1,678 $3.2M Very High 2
Swan Valley Ems Station 1 1,678 $3.2M Very High 1
Dixon Rural Fire Department 6,424 $917.1K Very High 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

10.1%
Poverty Rate
17.1%
Age 65+
12.6%
Disability Rate
6.1%
Uninsured
44.9%
Pre-1980 Housing
8.0%
Mobile Homes
7.5%
Vacancy Rate
4.2%
Wood Heat
$79,148
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

7
Last 10 Years
14
Last 25 Years
Fire
Most Frequent

Response-level intelligence for your region

Our Regional tier gives county fire authorities and state fire marshals rollup dashboards across all departments in your jurisdiction: response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

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